Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Election Day minus 12 - Be the Gorilla

Day 26: I know some Libertarian candidates read this blog just from the feedback I get. We have just over one week to make some noise. The fact is thats all we can expect to do, no Libertarian is going to be elected this time around. It may be years or longer before a real libertarian candidate even threatens in an election. So what is the most that can be expected?

If you are running a "real" campaign, with some money, maybe pamphlets or signs or both, the most you should expect is recognition within a portion of the local electorate. That means that people may remember the party or you, the next time around.

Even though I ran Federally in 2008, the only people that remember that, besides my family and friends, are some media types, like the people at the local paper, and the incumbent candidate. I did not register to most people, even a fraction of the electorate. I know this because people tell me they have never heard of us. Some will recognize my name because I've written letters to the editor locally, beyond that, nothing.

So this time I was determined to make some noise, say some outrageous things, at least make it memorable for some people and possibly they will remember me and the party when we do this again in Ontario in just 5 months. So in some sense the timing of this election was fortuitous, because many of our current candidates in Ontario will run in October provincially.

We will see if it works, but you need to think just like that. No sense playing it safe, there is no percentage in that. Be the gorilla, find out about gorilla political marketing and adopt some of those ideas, and be ready for the next one or use them NOW.

Jim McIntosh sent this around: "If you want more government and higher taxes, you have many choices. If you want less government and lower taxes, don’t waste your vote on any other party. Vote Libertarian and send a message to Ottawa."(or Queen’s Park as the case may be.)

For those of you who did not yet hear my radio appearance on a local alternative rock station (The Edge 102.1FM)(it is gorilla-like), my YouTube friend from the west did the following video:

Guest Essay by Kip Hansen I get emails — lots of emails in lots of
different email accounts. Many of these emails are fundraising emails —
requests for fi...

Republic of Canada

The short-lived Republic of Canada is a little-known chapter in Canadian history. From 1837 to 1838 William Lyon Mackenzie and a small group of supporters occupied Navy Island in the Niagara River. The rebels were agitating for a government that was both responsible and representative. Although their struggle was not successful, eventually these ideals came to be represented in the government of Upper Canada and, later, the country of Canada we now know. Liberty was such an important value to this little group that they put the word on the flag, making this short, but important, episode of Canadian history something worth remembering.